Less than five years after the passage of a comprehensive law touted as the solution to restore public trust and confidence in government, lawmakers returned to square one in an attempt to re-make the image of a state government mired in seemingly unending scandal. On Aug. 15, 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Public Integrity Reform Act (PIRA) of 2011 into law. PIRA overhauled the last “sweeping reform,” the Public Employee Ethics Reform Act (PEERA) of 2007, leaving very few of the signature aspects of that prior act in place. These successive reform measures, however, are creating a difficult working environment for state government officials and lobbyists who regularly find the need for clear guidance in an area already filled with more than its share of gray.

The PIRA reforms are dramatic and wide-ranging. There will now be one unitary, independent ethics agency with jurisdiction—for the first time—over both the executive and legislative branches. Gone is the self-contained policing system used by the Legislature. The act provides enhanced transparency for disclosure of interactions between state agencies and representatives from the private sector, more detailed financial disclosure of the outside income of both full-time public servants and unpaid government board members who serve as policymakers, a robust mandatory training program for public officials and lobbyists, an overhauled investigatory process for those who are alleged to have strayed from the ethics or lobbying laws, and a pension forfeiture provision for new government employees convicted of a crime related to their public office.

Change of Regulatory Guard

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]